All Christian’s believe in the trinity, proclaiming that God eternally exists as the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. “Scripture affirms from beginning to end that there is” one God (1), a God who is the creator of heaven and earth and this one God exists in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are not three different Gods, these three are one God, co-equal and co-eternal which deserve equal praise and worship and are distant yet acting in unity. The father is not the son, the son is not the spirit, the spirit is not the father but is each their own form of God. Father relates to the creator; Son is the Christ (the redeemer), and the Spirit is the “force of energy which empowers” (2). The biblical experiences of the trinity are limited as the bible does not specifically state or mention the word ‘trinity’. However, the trinity is implicated in the bible and shows a “slow development of understanding that Jesus Christ, the father and the spirit are equally God.” (3) In the early period Church Fathers were struggling with how to view the notion of the Father, the Son and the Spirit as they were held true to their Jewish roots, strongly believing in only one God. As the belief developed the trinitarian heresies were established, and three different views were formed. This being that there are three different gods (Tritheism) or the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are three forms of God (Modalism) or parts of God (Arianism). The council of Nicaea and Constantinople rejected these ideas and developed the official teaching that there is one God, the One God is Tri-une. One contemporary belief of the trinity that came from the workings of John Macquarrie (1919-2007) is from an existentialist perspective. For Macquarrie “the doctrine of the trinity safeguards a dynamic as opposed to a static understanding of God” (4). This means that the Father is a ‘primordial being’ existing at the beginning of time, the Son is an ‘expressive being’ the agent of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is an ‘unitive being’ strengthening and restoring relationships. Due to the existential nature of humanity, Macquarie’s approach is helpful however it is less valuable in explaining how the doctrines were established in the first place. Another contemporary belief came from the workings of Karl Rahner (1904-84) who emphasised the relationship between economic and immanent trinity. The economic trinity is the “way in which we experience the diversity and unity of gods self-disclosure” (5) and the immanent trinity is Gods diversity. In other words economic trinity is what God does and immanent trinity is who God is. However, Rahner’s approach can be seen as Idealistic modalism as demonstrated by his explanatory concept distinct manners of subsisting. 1 As stated before, the bible does not explicitly state the word ‘trinity’, however this is no cause for concern as belief is not because of the word, but because of what the bible teaches. Although the word trinity is not stated, the Father, Son and the Spirit are mentioned frequently such as at Jesus’ baptism with the voice of the father, son baptized and the spirit descending like a dove. 2. As stated in the Bible humans are made in the likeness of God, which means that they are made in the image of the Trinitarian God. Humans have the chance to be in relationship with a triune God, on an interpersonal level. This can take on the form of prayer, using the scriptures as the standard for faith and joining with other believers. In simple terms, where love is, God is. Christology refers to the study of the person, nature and role of Jesus Christ. The word ‘Christ’ refers to Jesus, and ‘-ology’ means the study of. Christology is a very broad topic as it covers Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrections and ascension. It also relates to his ministry, teachings, humanity and deity. There are two very distinct ways to approach the reality of Jesus Christ; Christology from below and from above. Christology from below ‘begins by investigating the basis for faith in Jesus’ (1) meaning looking at Jesus as a man, and then looking at him as divine. Christology from above begins by looking at Jesus as divine, and then looking at Him as human. Both approaches have been more favoured than the other at some point, however both are just attempting to explain the mystery of Jesus Christ. At the start of the tradition (Apostolic period) there was no problems with following Christ and being monotheistic. As the belief developed, throughout the patristic period Christians were grappling with how to understand “Jesus to be both God and human without denigrating on or the other” (2) and still only believing in one God. There were also many early second century debates on how to connect the God in the old testament and the humanity of Jesus. There were many contradicting heresies, until the Council of Chalcedon concluded that Christ is both fully human and fully divine. The two natures are “simultaneously unconfused, unchangeable, indivisible and inseparable” (3) . Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine or in other words he is 100% God and 100% man. This is hard for any person to fully comprehend; however it is made clear that it is true by the announcement in the gospel. God became a man incarnate, stating in the scriptures that Christ is the ’visible image of the invisible man’. God is touched by humanity, getting a full understanding of what it is meant to be human. Jesus took sins on the cross as a man and died as a man, but as God rose again to save humans. 2. Jesus is central to Christianity; therefore, the study of Christ is a way to find out more about Him. Jesus has a big impact on Christian’s life today as his teachings are still prevalent even in this modern society. He made repentance possible, he teaches truth, offer peace and hope and sets the example of how to act. Christ in continually present today. One contemporary approach is Feministic Christology, which has two different types. Revolutionary feminist theologians believe that it is so male dominated that it is irredeemable. The other type is reformist feminist theology which hopes that Christian tradition can be transformed. With this type, many catholic feminists such as Rosemary Radford Ruether hope that instead of women not feeling equal in the image of God due to the male pronouns used throughout the Bible, women will be treated as equal. Ruether believes that Christology is used to oppress women and ”the maleness of Christ has been to exclude women from the ordained ministry”(4). However, Jesus is referred to as ‘human’ and his maleness has no theological significance. Another contemporary approach is by Karl Rahner, who believes that the state of Christology is stagnant with no new ways of talking about the significance Jesus has for the world today. Rahner believes that Christology is “the heart of his theology” (5), and many Christians fail to see that the main truth is that Jesus Christ was indeed genuinely human. Salvation can be referred to as being saved from individual or shared evil and suffering. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, human beings were saved from the death and separation from God. In other words, Jesus died to save humans from original sin. Original sin is the concept that evil is inborn in all human beings due to Adams wrongdoings in the Fall. This is known as fall redemption, as redemption refers to the ‘buying back’ of God’s love after the wrongdoings in Genesis. “The crucifixion of Jesus… is the central intensity of Christian salvation” as this is how relationship with God is mended. Jesus became the ransom who was offered to redeem humanity and paid the price for humanity's sins. God incarnate obtained salvation for humans, regaining what they lost due to Adam’s failure, rectified by Christ. Development - Models One contemporary approach to salvation is by Damien Casey who believes that “salvation is the process of becoming fully human” () and heals relationship with God through solidarity. Casey states that the process of salvation demands participation, and to restore this relationship humans must be in communion with one another. However, Casey believes that original sin is a communal problem which would have to mean that all humans possess the same thoughts and feelings which cannot be true. Another contemporary view is from Michael Himes who believes that to embrace and accept salvation, humans must trust in the goodness of themselves. Himes states that love is greater than hatred, and once humans reconcile with each other, it will restore communion with God. However, the downside to this is that all humans must love one another which is very unlikely. 1. There are three different types of sin; original sin, actual sin and social sin. Original sin is due to the wrongdoings of Adam in the bible which is then translated to all humans, evil is inborn. Actual sin causes damage to an individual's relationship with others or God, by a purposeful act. Social sin is the notion that humans have been born into a society in which sin already exists. To connect this to salvation, Jesus death and resurrection was to rid humans of original sin. 2. Personal salvation is important in Christian’s lives because without it humans cannot be in relationship with God. Christ’s death and resurrection opened the path to form a lasting bond with God, therefore Christian’s must overcome temptation and sin to hold onto this relationship. Salvation not only influences Christian’s day to day life, but effects their place in Heaven. In the early years in Jesus ministry it was known that all were offered forgiveness of evil and everlasting life in the kingdom. The tradition of redemption “and belief in original sin… came together in the early understandings of Jesus” (Teresa) and as this belief development more models of salvation became apparent. Some believed that Christ was a sacrifice to the devil to defeat cosmic evil. When the ransom was accepted, humans were free from the sin that connected them to the devil. Though, since Christ was pure from evil, the devil was unable to embrace him. Another traditional model of salvation was that Christ is a substitute for punishment. This approach is that “Christ stands in substitution for humanity and takes the punishment for humans’ sins” thus God setting everyone free. However this suggests that humans have not been cured of their evils but God has decided to turn the other way. The other traditional models are Christ as Expiation, Christ as Paradigm, Christ as effecting Anthropological Change and Christ as Bringing about Satisfaction for Evil.
